Do You Like Dogs, Cats, Both, or Neither? An Examination of Western Dating Site Users

Prior research found that pet preferences and ownership relates to owners’ characteristics, including psychological variation. We aimed to expand this literature. Subjects were OKCupid dating site users who had answered questions for the purpose of improving their matches on the site. We examined the relationship between dog and cat preferences and a broad selection of psychological traits scored using ad hoc scales of questions found in the dataset. Results were in line with prior research. People who prefer dogs were higher in extraversion, conservatism, desired and actual number of children, and mental health, while those preferring cats were higher in intelligence, enjoyed discussions more, and read more books. These associations were robust to controls for age, sex, and location.